Gobiomyidae

Gobiomyidae
Temporal range: middle to late Eocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Superfamily: Ctenodactyloidea
Family: Gobiomyidae
Wang, 2001
Genera

Gobiomys
Mergenomys
Youngomys

Gobiomyidae is a small extinct family of rodents from the Eocene of Asia. The family contains four genera (one remains unnamed) and belongs to the superfamily Ctenodactyloidea (Wang, 2001), which also contains the living Laotian rock rat and gundis and their fossil relatives (families Diatomyidae and Ctenodactylidae, respectively). When Wang named the family, gobiomyids were considered the closest known relatives of Ctenodactylidae, but newer research indicates that Diatomyidae is more closely related to living ctenodactylids (Dawson et al., 2006).

References

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  • Dawson, M. R., L. Marivaux, C.-k. Li, K. C. Beard, and G. Métais. 2006. Laonastes and the "Lazarus effect" in Recent mammals. Science, 311:1456-1458.
  • Wang, B.-Y. 2001. Eocene ctenodactyloids (Rodentia, Mammalia) from Nei Mongol, China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica, 39(2):98-114.